Melchanical garage



Sept. 13, 1932. E. GEIGER MECHANICAL GARAGE Filed Nov. 15. 1928 7 Sheets-Sheet 1 I .Z- INVENTOi Ernst G eyer' A RN EY Sept. 13, 1932. E. GEIGER 1,877,293

MECHANICAL GARAGE Filed Nov. 15, 1928 7 Sheets-Sheet 2 1/12 INVENTOR .E'rmsfi G'eziqer A ORNEY Sept. 13, 1932. E. GEIGER MECHANICAL GARAGE Filed Nov. 15. 1928 7 Shee ts-Sheet 3 Hull Hil 91 INVENTOR Ell 9561975761.

ML/ 7 A iTORNEY Sept. 13, 1932.

E. GEIGER 1,877,293

MECHANICAL GARAGE 7 Sheets-Sheet 4 Filed NOV. 15. 1928.

INVENTOR ATTORNEY Sept. 13, 1932. E. GEIGER MECHANICAL GARAGE Fild Nov. 15. 1928 yer INVENTQR Ernfli 090' 2 BY A ORN EY 7 Sheets-Sheet 5 I v ff/kW IT a//////////////////////////////////// M n A d 2 Sept. 13, 1932. V GEIGER 1,877,293

MECHANICAL GARAGE Filed Nov. 15, 1928 7 Sheets-Sheet 6 a.. um 1 IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII ATTORNEY Sept. 13, 1932. E. GEIGER 1,877,293

MECHANICAL GARAGE Filed Nov. 15. 1928 7 Sheets-Sheet 7 INVENTOR /s7 6 8 96, BY A, MATTORNEY Patented Sept. 13, 1932 UNITED" s 'rss enner GEIGER, or rnvme'ron, NEW mass? MECHANICAL omen Application filed November 15, 1928. Serial No. 319,510.

The present invention is concerned with improvements in storageb uildings or storage umts of the type in which a plurality of storage cabins are mounted on endless flexa ible conveyor means for movement in an orbital path. This general type of construction, while capable ofuse in storage warehouses,, hotels, ofiice buildings, de artment stores and other locations-where urniture, automobiles or other goodsare to be temporarily stored in're'adily accessible storage compartments, is peculiarly adapted and primarily intended for embodiment in an elevator garage of the general character d1s closed in U. S. Patent No. 1,636,600, granted tome on July 19th,1927'.

In this prior patent, 'I show a garage construction in which a series of elevator cabins hung from their topsbetween and carried 20 by pairs of guided endless chains,-move 1n an orbital path through parallel vertical shaftways and shaft-connecting crossways at the top and bottom of the building. The space enclosed between the shaftways and crossways is subdivided to provide at different levels ear receiving and deliveryfioors with which any cabin of the endless chain may be alined. Relatively massive sprocket wheels are provided in the upper crossways, so these sprocket wheels for purposes of space economy having a common connective axle instead of stub shaft mountings, and being of a diameter approximately equal to the distance between the centers of the shaft ways and of a radius slightly in excess of the height of the cabins whereby the cabins may clear the axle as they pass through the upper crossway and between the sprocket wheels.

With. the, patented construction one controlling factor which determines eflicient space utilization is the number of standardsize-d ear compartments into which a cabin may be horizontally subdivided, it bein ob vious that the car-carrying capacity 0 any given length of chain is materially increased where multiplex rather than single compartment cabinsare used, since a similar length of chain must be left between cabins for clearmice purposes regardless of the height of the cabins. Since the cabins are hung from their tops on the chains and must clear the sprocket wheel axle when traversing the up or crossways, the number of compartments in a cabin or inother words the total cabin height, is

directly dependent upon the diameter of the sprocket w ieels.

' By the present'invention I make it possible i to use cabins of any desired height regardless of the sprocket wheel diameter whereby the cabin-carrying capacity of any given tent. This result is accomplished by using cabins which are connected at points below their tops to the chain. -With such a construction, supplementary guiding means coacting 1 with the cabin at points remote from the cabin to either the cabins or their contents, due to swinging them around the curved portionsof their orbits.

Another safety feature is the provision of means which will eflectively prevent the cabins from falling upon breakage of one or both of the carrying chains. Such a break, in fact, is inoperative to even materially affeet the positions of the cabins and cannot cause the precipitate drop of either a'chain of cabins or a single cabin, in its shaftway or crosswayr In this respect the safety means represents an improvement over all present types of elevator safety mechanism which operate to check the descent of a car only after the car has gained momentum.'

To accomplish this result I preferably suspend all of the cabins on chains which are so constructed and so guided that they are capable of withstanding compression strains as 'length 'of chain is utilized to a maximum exwell as tension strains. These chains are sustained against buckling by the walls of the box-like guideways in which they are housed and will serve as rigid props or struts to sustain the weight of the cabins if a break occurs in the chains. Thus a break in the chains serves only to transfer the suspended weight 0 fthe cabins from the driving and guiding sprocket at the top of the construction to the chain guides at the bottom of the structure.

It may be stated that this safety chain feature is capable of a wide field of utility and is wholly independent "of the supplemental cabin guiding means.

In using a construction which renders the cabin height entirely independent of the sprocket wheel radius, useful results other than those above noted are also accomplished.

The sprocket wheel axles may be in the form of hollow drums and building bracing beams may pass directly through the drums,

thereb solvin the otherwise difficult problem o proper y cross-bracing the building near the top.

The drums furthermore permit the use of more substantial and massive bearings for the axles.

Excessive tooth pressures between the driving gears and the massive driven s rockets are preferably revented by a di erentia-l mechanism w i5) serves to distribute such pressures between a plurality of driving gears in mesh with a driven gear at the periphery of the sprockets.

Idler or drag chains closely following the curved sections of the supplemental guideways and extending therebeyond may provide additional protection against any possible swaying of top-heavy cabins as t y travel through the curved portions of their orbits. These chains are actuated by the moving cabins and are so arranged that they serve as a secondary bracing connection between every cabin in the curved guideway sections and one a or more cabins in the straight guideway sections. Thus as each cabin traverses the dangerous more or less horizontal portion of its orbit it is interlocked with the more positively guided cabins in the vertical guideways by apair of connecting chains.

The invention may be more fully understood from the following description in connection with the accompanying drawings, wherein:

Fig. 1 is a broken transverse sectional view through a garage embodying the invention.

Fig. 2 is a fragmentary longitudinal vertical sectional view taken approximately on the line 2--2 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is a somewhat diagrammatic broken elevational view of the chain guide and supplemental guide.

Fig. 4 is a transverse sectional detail on the line of Fig. 3.

through the drum axle on the line 1()10 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 11 is a transverse sectional view on th line 11+11 of Fig. 10, with parts broken awa and in section for clearness.

Fig.- 12 is an elevational detail showim the connections between the driving motor and the sprocket wheel drum.

Fig. '13 is an elevational detail illustrating a modified form of drive in which the motor is connected to the periphery of the sprockets instead of thedrum.

Fig. 14 is a fragmentary side elevational view of one of the cabins showing the manner in which the cabin guiding means project laterally into the guideways.

Fig. 15 is a view-similar to Fig. 1 but illustrating a modification. v

Fig. 16 is a fragmentary sectional plan view taken approximately on the line 1616 of Fig. 15.

Fig. 17 is' a vertical sectional detail taken on the line 17-17 of Fig. 16.

Fig. 18 is an enlarged detail partly in section and partly in elevation showing the manner in which the supplementary guides are connected to one of the drag chains.

Fig. 19 is a transverse sectional view taken on the line 1919 of Fig. 18..

Fig. 20 is an enlarged elevational detail showing the differential drive mechanism for the sprocket wheels of Fig. 15.

Fig. 21 is a plan view of such mechanism.

Fig. 22 is a diagrammatic side elevational view illustrating a modified guide and cabin construction.

Fig. 23 is a similar view illustrating another modification, and

Fig. 24 is a similar view illustrating a further modification. I

Fig. 25 is a broken view partly in side eleva-tion and partly in longitudinal section showing a further modified form of chain.

Fig. 26 is a longitudinal sectional detail on the line 2626 of Fig. 25, and

Fig. 27 is a cross-sectional view showing the manner in which the chain of Fig. 26 is accommodated within its guideway.

It may be stated at the outset that certain of the terms used in the specification and iii:

claims are used primarily for convenience I of description and are to be interpreted in a broad and not a literal sense. Where the word chain is used it is intended to dominate all equivalent forms of devices operative-to accomplish the purpose of the claims illustrated. By the term storage cabin I intend to cover any and all cars, cabins, elevators, platforms, baskets, cages or skeleton frames which are suitable for supporting and elevating automobiles or other articles to be handled, parked, or stored.

Referring first to Figs. 1 to 12 inclusive, I have shown a garage building which includes side walls 11, a roof 12 and a basement floor 13. Interior longitudinal partition walls 14 parallel to the side walls 11 cooperate therewith to define spaces for banks of vertical elevator shaftways such as the shaftways 15 and 16 of Fig. 2. The shaftways of each bank may be separated from each other by partition walls 17, or when local building laws permit shaftway walls 17, which run from the wall 11 to the walls 14 are provided only at every second shaftway as shown, and confine a pair of shaftways between them. If desired a greater number, say even three or four shaftways may separate adjacent walls 17.

The space between the walls 14 may be horizontally subdivided to provide any suitable number of floors such as 18 and below such floors a car delivery floor 19 and car receiving floors 20. Beneath the car receiving floorthere is provided an inspection tunnel 21 having observation windows 22 therein and this inspection floor may be conveniently provided at its center with a pit 23 a in which workmen may gain access to cars supported upon the racks or rails 24 over the pit, and at the level of the tunnel floor. The tops of the walls 14 are connected by substantially transverse beams 25 which in turn are connected by longitudinal beams 26 to define a relatively heavy platform structure upon which are bearings for the pairs of massive spaced sprocket wheels 27 which transfer the storage cabins from one shaftway to an opposite companion shaftway.

'The sprocket wheels are disposed in a relatively high crossway 28 connecting opposite sliaftways, and are connected by axle drum 84 and are of a diameter approximately equal to the distance between the centersof opposite vertical shaftways. Endless carrier chains 29 traveling in endless chain guideways 30 are driven by and supported on the sprocket wheels. These chain guideways may include arcuate upper portions closely following the upper half of the sprocket wheel, vertical portions in the shaftways and arcuate lower portions arranged in the lower crossways. The upper arcuate guides prevent disengagement of the chain from the wheel if the chain breaks. All of the chain guides are in the nature of generally boxlike housing members bestseen in Figs. 4,

.5 and 6. The housings are laterally open or slotted throughout to permit the chains to be connected to the storage cabins which they carry, and the bottoms of the upper arcuate sections of the chain guides are cut away so that the teeth 81 of the sprocket wheels may pass through. them and mesh with the chains.

A pair of spaced sprockets 27 are provided for each shaftway. The storage cabins 33 which are suspended upon the endless chains 29 by laterally projecting studs or hanger arms 34, are carried in an orbital path through the vertical shaftways 15, 15 01'16, 16, as the case may be, and through the upper and lower crossways.

The walls 1717 confine between them a pair of laterally adjacent shaftways. Thus one endless chain guide 30 for each shaftway is mounted on the wall 17 while the two central guides 30 are backed against each other as best seen in Fig. 7 and form in effect avertical column disposed midway between adjacent walls 17, and braced laterally and at its bottom in any convenient or conventional manner (not shown).

Each cabin 33 is subdivided by a plurality of horizontal partitions 33 into a plurality of rigidly connected superimposed car storage compartments 35 of convenient size to fairly snugly receive a standard-sized or if desired largest sized car. Any compartment may be selectively alined with a. doorway 36 at the car receiving floor 20 or doorway 37 at the car delivery floor 19, by proper manipulation of the carrier chains. Thus a car may be driven ofi the receiving floor into an alined car-receiving compartment. When the endless chains are set in motion such compartment is shifted away from its receiving position to any remote point of its orbit and may be moved into registration with the car delivery floor when it is desired to return th parked or stored car to its owner.

The manner in which the superimposed car delivery and receiving floors communicate through an end of the building with the street by means of inclined ramps is clearly apparent in my prior patent above referred to and has not been shown in this application, although a modification of this driveway arrangement appears in Figs. 16 and 17.

The exact manner in which the box-like guideways for the massive cabin-carrying chains are constructed is subject to considerable variation. For illustrative purposes I have indicated these chain guideways as comprising corner angle pieces 38 rigidly connected by side frame plates 39 and back frame plates 40. Insofar as the central guides are concerned the side plates 39 may be common to the adjacent guide-ways of both the shaftways 15 and 16, one plate 40 may be omitted, or two of the plates 40 may be backed directly against each other if desired or spaced apart as shown in Fig. 7.

The slot at the inner side of each guideway 30, that is to say, the side of the guideway which faces the cabins to be guided, is indicated at 41. The lateral stud members or hanger members 34 of the cabins pass through these slots and are connected to the chains 29.

An endless supplemental guideway is provided in association with each chain guide so that each cabin is guided at four points throughout the full length of its orbit, or three points if the supplemental guide is used only at one side of the shaftway. This supplemental guideway may consist simply of a pair of spaced guide rails 42 and 43, which may be angle irons as in Fig. 7, channel irons as in Fig. 19' or of other suitable construction; which at the vertical runs of the guides are secured directly upon the box-like chain housings at opposite sides of slot 41.

" At both the to and bottom, however, ar-

cuate runs 44an 45 of the auxiliary guides run above the arcuate runs of the chain guides 30 in order that the cabins may be maintained on an even keel as they' pass through the upper and lower crossways. In order to avoid the illustration of unnecessary detaiLI have omitted showing the means for rigidly mounting and bracing the upper and lower arcuate portions of the chain guides and supplemental guides. Any suitable means may be used for this purpose, such as bracin frame work or ledges in the building walls 1 The box-like guide structure 30 is particularly important from the safety standpoint,

a in conjunction with the novel type of carrier ferred from the sprockets 27 to the lower arcuate sections of the chain guides 30.

Details-of the chains are shown in Figs.

7 7 ,8 and 9. Each chain link includes a pair of spaced, elongated plates 50, the intermedi- T ate portions of which are rigidly connected together as by the use of the connective braces 51 of general U-shape in cross-section, riveted or otherwise secured as at 52 to the inner faces of the plates 50. The relatively 60L enlarged and rounded ends. 53 of the side "plates of one link fit between the similarly shaped ends of the more widely spaced plates of adjacent links and the over lapping or interfitting link ends are connected by coupling "or knuckle pins 54. Wear between the outer faces of the narrower links and the inner faces of the outer links may be prevented by washers 56 encircling the pins 54 and spac ing such faces apart. Each of the narrower links has a sleeve 57 which encircles the bearing bushing 55, this sleeve being preferably rigidly bolted, welded or otherwise secured to the two side plates of the link as by bolts 58. Another bearing bushing 59 encircles this sleeve and a roller 60 is rotatable on the bushing 59, this roller being of a diameter which slightly exceeds the diameter of the rounded ends of the links and which consequently provides an anti-friction contact between the chains and the walls of their guideways 30. The customar yoke members 61 mounted on the outer chain links are adapted to embrace the flattened ends 62 of the knuckle pins 54 and hold them against turning, thereby preventing wear on the pins.

In connecting the cabins to the chains the laterally projecting studs 34 rotatably connected to the cabins replace the pins 54 as seen in 9, and their ends are in similar manner held by yoke pieces 61, although obviously other means may be devised for providing a swivel connection between cabin and chain while supporting the cabin on the chain. Preferably the members 34, which for convenience are referred to as studs, constitute the opposite ends of a single crossshaft extending transversel of the cabins.

It will be evident from igs. 8 and 9 that the individual links of the chains are inherently capable of withstanding both compression and tension strains. When these chains are arranged in the chain guideways 30 the walls of the guideways prevent buckling of adjacent chain links with the result that a break in one of the chains is ineffective aces of the wider to cause the endless chain of cabins to pile up in the bottom of the shaftways. Such a break is ineffective to cause any damage to either the cabins or their contents and simply results in transferring the weight of the cabin train from thesprockets on'to the lower guides 30.

These lower guides are preferably mounted on a strong and substantial ledge or buttress wall 30 (Fig. 2) so that they are fully capable of withstanding in emergencies the great weight which may be suddenly imposed upon them when a chain breaks.

The supplementary guiding means which cooperates with the guide plates 42 and 43 includes laterally projecting studs 7 O on the cabins upon which plates 71 are swivelly mounted. These plates are shown as generally diamond-shaped, carrying at their ends rollers 72 which travel between the angle plates 42 and 43 and carrying at their lateral corners rollers 73 which travel on'the out- I side of the respective angle plates 42 and 43. A feature of prime importance in the present invention is the fact that the doubleguide arrangement makes it unnecessary to suspend the cabins from their tops on the carrier chains and permits the cabins to be connected to the chains at any desired point either above or below the center of gravity of the cabins. As shown in Fig. 1, each of the cabins is divided into three car compartments of equal height and the studs 34 which connect the cabins and chains are disposed approximately at the bottom of the uppermost compartment, whereas supplemental guide plates are d1sposed at the tops of the cabins. By virtue of this arrangement relatively large sprocket wheel axles may be used since the distance between the axles and the periphery of the v sprocket wheel does not control the total height of a cabin as it would if the cabins were hung from their very'tops.

Fig. 3 is particularly intended to show the manner in which portions of the auxiliary guides must be cut away at certain points in order to permit the connecting studs 34 between chains and cabins to pass through them. At the upper cross-over, where the auxiliary guides continue above the main chain guides the inner rails 43 of the auxlliary guides are cut away as at 143 At the lower cross-overs, where the mam chain guides extend below the auxiliary guides, the outer rails 42 of the auxiliary guide are cut away as at 142 to permit the studs 34 to pass. An important feature of the special multirollercd swivel-guide plate 71 is the fact that 35 even the cutaways at 142 and 143 are ineffective to cause insecure contact of such supplemental guide mechanism with its guide rails 42 or 43. Note for instance in the lower right-hand corner of Fig. 3 how one of the rollers 73 and both rollers 72 are still maintained in effective guiding relationship with the inner rail 43. In other words the supplemental multi-rollered guide plate is always positively interlocked with its guideways even at points where portions of the guideways are cut away for clearance at the chain guideway cross-overs.

Due to the double guiding action aflorded by the chain guideways and supplemental w guideways the cabins are always held against swaying out of the vertical plane about studs 34 as centers, even while passing through the upper and lower crossways.

The floors of all of the car compartments 53 of each cabin slope downwardly from their receiving to their discharging ends and at the end of each floor there is a normally raised floor etxension in the form ofa tilting platform or drawbridge 77 adapted to bridge the 0 space between the cabin floor and the delivcry or receiving floor as the case may be. In my prior application, Serial No. 230,847, filed November 3rd, 1927, cabins of this general H :ha'racter, together with operating mechanism U for the drawbridges, are disclosed in detail,

except that the drawbridge is shown at only one end of each compartment. By inclining the'cabin floors, a car may be conveniently rolled into place in the cabin and by releasing the brakes will roll out by its own momentum on to the delivery floor.

The drawbridges also serve other important purposes. In the first place these projectible or retractable extensions of the car compartment floors economize space by providing additional clearance between the cabins and the corners of the receiving floor and inspection tunnel, and between the cabins and the sprocket wheel hub. In the second place the drawbridges serve to direct any upflowing current of air close to the front and rear walls v of the vertical shaftways. This phase of their usefulness is particularly important in con- I nection with fire alarm or fire control systems in which thermostats will be placed at the front and rear shaftway walls and will become operative whenever a fire occurs. Each platform or drawbridge serves as, an automatic air current deflector or director so that if a fire occurs in the bottom of one of the shaftways the hot upflowing air will be directed against the shaftway walls in intimate contact with the thermostats (not shown) and serve to render the nearest superjacent thermostat element active. 5.

The use of relatively massive sprocket wheels in the top of the building has heretofore presented a diliicult problem in properly cross-bracing the building in the region of the sprockets. These sprockets may be of 1 great diameter, say fifty feet, and where ordinary wheels are used it is impossible to cross-brace the building in a longitudinal direction, throughout an area of say 2000 square feet. The present invention, however, overcomes this difiiculty in that the sprocket wheel hubs are in the nature of hollow drums so that longitudinal building bracing beams 79 of great strength may extend from one end of the building to another or from one wall 11. 17 to the next directly through the sprocket wheel hubs. I

The beams 25 and 26' present a very substantial base or platform upon which any suitable type of massive superstructure or supporting frame 80 for the sprocket wheels may be mounted. The sprocket wheels themselves insofar as their general construction is concerned may be substantially similar to those described in my co ending application Serial No. 278,382, filed ay 17th, 1928. and may have the same t pe of removable chainengaging tooth bloc rs designated herein at 81 but not illustrated in detail.

The rims 82 of the sprockets are connected by spokes 83 to a central hollow drum-like axle 84, encircled adjacent each end by a roller-bearing race 85. Interposed between the race 85 and an encircling race 86 are roller bearings 87 which provide an anti-friction tween the pairs of angle irons which mounting for the drum. The race 86 is mounted in any suitable manner, for in-. stance upon relatively massive supporting blocks 88 carried by the super-structure frame 80.

The spokes 83 are connected by spliceplates 89 with slightly inclined spoke bracing member 90. Drum 84 at its ends abuts the inner faces of the braces 90. Internally radially disposed web plates 91 are connected to the drum as by angle irons 92 and project beyond the ends of the drum and beform the spokes .83 and braces 90, the ends of these web plates being riveted to the spokes and braces as indicated at 93 and 94. Thus the shell of the drum 90 is indirectly rigidlyl connected to the spokes and braces throug the intermediacy of the web plates 91.

These web plates, together with the ends of the braces and spokes extend into the drum a distance which is equal to only a proximately half of the drum radius so t at the center of the drum'is left wholly unobstructed for the accommodation of the building beams or girders 79. To further strengthen the construction the radial series of web plates 91 are connected adjacent each end of the 'drum by connecting plates 95 of generally truncated sectoral shape which complete the interlock of the inner ends of the spokes 83 and braces 90 with the drum. While showing the details of a drum sprocket in which fabrication is effected by riveting it must be understood that this entire construction is subject to considerable simplification and that all of the various parts of the construction may be simplilwelded together.

ounted upon the drum shell 8 1'at a point between the pairs of bearing races is a. ring gear 96, and one method of driving this gear is indicated in Fig. 12. A driving motor 97 mounted in any suitable manner u on the super-structure 80 operates throug speed reducing gears 98 and 99 to drive a worm 100 which worm acts through a second train of speed-reducing gears 101 and 102 to drive the ring gear 96. i

It is believed that operation of the device will be clearly apparent from the foregoing description but it may be briefly summarized as follows:

Any compartment of any desired cabin may be alined with either receiving or delivery floors or 19 by starting the motor 97 to set the sprocket wheels and consequently the chains in motion. When the cabin is alined with the desired floor the proper drawbridge or tilting platform 77 is swung down as shown at the delivery floor in Fig. 1 and the car is rolled into or out of the compartment as the case may be. The gearing which I'have shown for effecting the desired drive is not intended for high speed operation in the sense that assenger elevators travellin 700 or 800 eet a minute are considered hig speed elevators. It is o erative however to efiect comparatively hlgh speed operation of the very massive and heavy cabin chain shown in the present design. The

speed in some cases may exceed 100 feet per minute so that if the total length of the chain is not more than 500 feet even the most remote cabin may be brought to the delivery floor or the receiving floor in less than 2 1; minutes. It will be remembered that a great number of the endless chains of cabins are provided in side-by-side relationship and that when an incoming stream of cars is to be handled, the normal operating speed of a single endless chain unit must be multiplied by the number of chain units available in order to obtain an accurate estimate of the number of cars which ma be handled an hour. With ten trains o 50 cabins each the car handling apparatus may readily receive or discharge from 400 to 500 cars per hour during morning and evening rushes. With ten endless chain units side-by-side each containing approximately 50 car compartments incoming cars may be received at 5 to 10 second intervals and a rush of out-- going cars may be handled at 10 to 20 second intervals. There is never any congestion caused by incoming cars waiting to enter cabins of a moving chain which is moving to discharge outgoing cars, since it is'a very simple matter to direct all of the incoming cars into chains which are not in motion for discharging purposes.

The expedient of using two shaftways between the' walls 17 effects an economy of space between alternate shaftways which is equal to the thickness of such wallswithout detracting from the inherent strength of the building and guide construction, since the two guide channels, arranged back to back as shown in Fig. 7, afi'ord in themselves a very substantial and rugged column which may be laterally braced on the walls 11 or 14. wherever desired. 1

In Fig. 16 I have illustrated a modification of the invention in which the central landing and loading floors are eliminated, in which the cabins are hung below their centers of gravity instead of above them on the carrier chain and inwhich the possibility o swaying of the cabins as they traverse the curved portions of their guideways is positively eliminated regardless of the speed at which the cabins may be traveling or the abruptness with which the cabins may be stopped.

With this form of the invention a garage may be incorporated as part of a large building, such, for instance, as an office building, the front wall of which is shown at 103 and the side walls of which are shown at 104 and 105 in Fig. 16. The front end of the garage is defined by vertical partition wall 106 and the side walls of the garage portion of the building are defined by wall 104 and a second longitudinal wall 107. At the ground floor of the building, the space between the wall 103 and 106 may serve for store frontage and thereabove may serve convenientl for oiiicc space. .The ortion of the buih in" between walls 105, 10 may also serve as oilice space above the ground but at or near the ground level is devoted to the superimposed car delivery and receiving floors 108 and 109 of the garage. These floors communicate by ramps 110 and 111 with the street level and a control house 112 such as that shown in my prior Patent No. Hit-30,000, is mounted between the ramps in order that business may be conveniently transacted with the drivers of either incoming or outgoing cars.

The garage space between the walls 104 and 107 is divided longitudinally into rows of e evator sliaftu'ays 113 and 114 with a narrow inspection aisle 115 between them, The front shattwav walls disposed at each side of the aisle 115 are indicated at 116 and the transverse vertical partition walls 117 corresponding to the walls 17 are provided as in Fig. 1 only between alternate laterally adjacent shaftways.

The same general arrangement of sprocket wheels and guides is used and for the sake of convenience I have used similar numerals to designate similar or equivalent parts of the constructions, save that each of the numerals'in Fig. is supplemented by the letter a.

Super-structure 80a is of course relatively restricted in width due to the fact that the narrow aisle 115 has replaced the relatively wide floors 18, 19 and 20. -The sprocket wheels 27 a, drum hubs 8411, main chain guides a and auxiliar chain guides 42a,'43a, are retained. In this'case triple compartment cabins 33a are again used but the studs 3411 this mounting.

The construction of the swivel plate 71a is slightly different in order to assure even better guiding on the supplemental guideway. The plate in this instance is generally rectangular in cross-section, including two pairs of rollers 73a at the plate corners, which travel on the outside of the rails 42a and 43a and a single roller 7 2a at the center of the plate which travels between the rails.

Efiicient guiding in the present instance is accomplished by the use of endless drag chains 120 and 121 which guide the movement of the cabins through the upper and lower crossways respectively. The drag chains serve to supplement the main chains and like them to connect each cabin as it passes through the crossway with one or more cabins which are in the vertical guideways. Inasmuch as cabins which aretraveling in the vertical guideways cannot possibly sway the cabins which are traversing the crossways are positively held against swaying by the doubleconnection with the cabins in the shaftways. which is afforded by the carrier chains and drag chains. The drag chains may be of any desired type but are preferably miniature reproductions of the main carrier chains 29. The lower drag chain 121 travels over idler sprockets 122 and 123 journalled on suitable stub shafts 124 fixed to the walls 117 or to other suitable supports (not shown) out of the. path of the cabins.

Sprockets 122 and 123 are disposed between the vertical guides 31a and shaftway walls 110, and the chain loop or run which depends from the two spaced sprockets travels in its own special guideway. The latter may be afiixed to the chain guideways 30 and to a dummy chain housing which lies beneath and supports the lower arcuate portion a of the auxiliary guides. The drag chain guideway may be formed of a pair of angle irons 130 and 131 best seen in Fig. 19. They are fixed to the inner side plate 39a of the main chain guides 31 and enclose U-shaped tracks 132 in which the rollers 133 of the drag chain 121 travel.

Latcrally projecting blocks or equivalent devices 134, adapted to engage the hubs of the rollers 73a as best seen in Fig. '18 are mounted at intervals on the drag chain links. Preferably slight clearance is' provided between rounded roller-engaging corners 134a of the blocks 134 and the roller hubs which they engage in order to compensate for the slight difference in the length of the pendent drag chains and the curved portions of the supplemental guide rails which are disposed outside of them. There can of course be no interference between the drag chains and the main ways 42a, 43a. An additional guide member 182 coacts therewith to guide the upper run of the drag chain and prevents interference between the operating and the idler run of the chain. It will be apparent that the. drag chains are effective regardless of, the direction of rotation of the main carrier chainsand that they aflord, in connection with the main chains, double sets of connections from otherwise perilously guided cabins in the crossways to safely guided cabins in the shaftways.

The narrow inspection aisle 115 which may be horizontally subdivided into any desirable number of floors permits garage attendants to inspect all of thetstdred cars and obviates the need for the special inspection tunnel of Fig. 1. The loss of dead storage space between the banks of shaftways is unimportant,

the prime desideratum being maximum live storage space and consequent expeditious delivery of cars.

With this form of the invention I have shown an improved type of drive mechanism in which the tooth pressure on the final driv: -ing gears is materially reduced due first to the fact that the sprockets are peripherally driven and second to the fact that the load is divided between a pair of differentially con nected driving gears. The final driving torque is applied asbest seen in Fig. 13 on an outwardly facing ring gear 135 bolted directly to the rim of one sprocket wheel of each sprocket wheel pair.

The driving mechanism includes a gear 136 fixed directly upon the motor shaft 137 or otherwise connected to the motor. This gear drives a relatively large gear 138 on a counter shaft 139 which counter shaft is mounted in bearings 140 and carries-pinions 141 at its ends, meshing with relatively large gears 142 on the two parallel driving shafts 143, the latter shafts carrying pinions 144 which are in mesh with the ring gear 135 of the sprocket wheel and which. as will be seen from Fig. 21, will act eooperativelyto drive the sprocket.

Gear 138 is coupled to the counter-shaft 139 by I a differential mechanism which serves at all-times to equally distribute the .load. on the two driving pinions 14.4. This equal load distribution occurs between the pinions 144, planets 146 will be free to rotate on their spindles sufficiently to compensate for and distribute thisload on the driving pinions 144. This particular type of load distributing diiferential mechanism is generally similar to various well-known differential mechanisms and is shown here simply to illustrate one form of gearing which will serve with the present garage.

Such ,a drive may be conveniently used with the mechanism of Fi 1 if desired.

The operation of t e garage of Fig. 15 is substantially similar to the operation of the garage of Fig. 1, save thatthe cars are driven on to the roadway 109 which is disposed laterallyrather than centrally of the endless cabln chain units and the cars are preferably-backed out of the'cabins-on to the upper roadway 108 instead of being driven out ahead as in Fig. 1. In the event that it is desirable, however, to drive the cabins out forwardly or to discharge them gravitationally from the inclined cabin floors, I may provide doorways 150 in the outside of the uilding wall 104 through which the cars may be discharged directly on to the street or on to aroadway at the opposite side of the building from the in driveway 108.

The form of the invention shown in Fig. 15 renders it even more obvious that the total height of the cabin ma be entirely independent of the radius 0 the driving sprocket wheels, since I have in this form of the invention shown a cabin which is approximately equal to the full diameter of the wheel and yet it travels about the wheel axle drum without interference due to the fact that the cabin is connected to .the chains at a point near its bottom rather than being pendent from its top. The height of cabin which may be practicably used isan important feature, since the greater the number of compartments which are provided in a single cabin the greater total number of cars which may be carried on a given length of chain. Obviously if single or duplex cabins were used instead of the triplex cabins illustrated the same distance would still have to be maintained between adjacent cabins on the chain and that considerable valuable space which is here utilized would be lost in providing clearance between cabins.

It is within the scope of the present invention to build up the multiplex cabins of any height without corresponding increase in the size of the sprocket wheels over which the cabin supporting chains are guided. In Figs. 22, 23 and24 I have indicated certain modifications which are within the scope of the invention.

In Fig. 22 a duplex cabin 160 is shown, this cabin being centrally hung as at 161 on the chain and having its top connected as at 162 with the auxiliary'guides.

In Fig. 23 a duplex cabin is connected at its bottom to the chains and at its top to the supplemental guides, while in Fig. -24 a quadruplex cabin is connected below its top to the auxiliary guides and above its bottom to the chains.-

From the standpoint of space economy and simplicity of construction it is advantageous to have the connections between the cabins and auxiliary guides above the cabins supplemental guideways would have to be placed between the sprocket wheels, making it difiicult to properly brace or support either these guides or the sprocket wheels themselves.

In Figs. 25 to 27 I have illustrated a slightly modified chain construction which makes for simplicity and obviates the necessity for using chain links of alternately different thickness, consequently permitting the rigid chain link spacers to be standardized as to size.

With this form of the invention each chain link includes a pair of spaced linked rigid plates 200 with suitable spacer members such as the channel iron spacers 201 disposed between them and riveted as at 202 or otherwise secured to the inner faces of the plates. The ends of the plates 200 are slightly enlarged and rounded at 203 and are apertured for the reception of pivot pins 204..

The chain links. instead of being directly connected to each other are each independently pivotally connected to a rigid coupling piece designated generally at 205. This coupling piece at each end provides a bearing member 206 lined by a bushing 207 which receives the pins 204/ The pins are inserted through the alined apertures in the rounded ends of the link plates and held against rotation relatively to the links proper by the usual yoke pieces 208 mounted on the outer faces of the links and straddling the flattened ends 209 of the pivot pins.

The wear between the bearing portions 206 of the coupling member 205 and the inner faces of the link plates is prevented by washers 210.

lVith this form of the invention I use two spaced rollers 211 encircling each bearing member 206, these rollers being of slightly greater diameter than the rounded link ends and serving to provide an anti-friction con tact between the chains and the walls of guideway 30, as best'seen in Fig. 27.

This form of chain is not only less expensive to manufacture than the type previously described. but can be much more easily repaired, it merely being necessary to remove a single piece, in the event that the rollers 211, bushings 207, or other wearing portions of the chain require replacement.

In Fig. 13 of the drawings I have shown the manner in which the sprocket wheel of Fig. 1 may be peripherally driven instead of driven from the ring gear on the drum. In this Figure motor shaft 240 is connected through a train of speed reducing gears 242 and 243to the ring gear 135 on the sprocket wheel 82.

What I claim is:

1. In a storage building a pair of vertical I shaftways, crossways connecting the said shaftways at the top and bottom, pairs of sprocket wheels arranged in the upper cross- Way, endless chains running over the sprocket wheels and through the shaft-ways and lower crossways, guideways in which the chains travel, storage cabins hung on the chains at points above the centers of gravity of the cabins, said cabins passing through the upper crossway between the sprocket wheels, means preventing the swaying of the cabins on their hangers as they pass through the crossways,

comprising secondary endless guideways and means on the cabins cooperating therewith said means being spaced from the points of attachment of the chains to the cabins.

2. A storage building providing a space in which an endless series of storage cabins are adapted to travel, a pair of spaced endless guideways, endless chains in the guideways and storage cabins connected to the chains and disposed between the guideways, said chain whereby the weight of the cabin train may be carried by the curved lower portions of the guide rails in the event of breakage of a'chain.

3. A storage building providing a space in which an endless series of storage cabins are orbitally movable, a guided endless flexible device-connected to all of the cabins above the centers of gravity of said cabins, a supplement-a1 endless guideway and means carried by the cabins above their point of connection to the flexible device and travelling in said supplemental guideway.

4:. A storage building providing a space in which an endless series ofstorage cabins are orbitally movable, a guided endless flexible device connectedto all of the cabins," a supplemental endless guideway and means carried by the cabins above their point of connection to the flexible device and travelling in said supplemental guideway, said means including plates swivelly connected to the cabins and rollers on the plates coacting with said guideway.

5. In a garage building or the like a pair of spaced parallel shaftways, crossways connecting them at their top and bottom, a pair V i ing for the drum, endless chains carried by the sprocket wheels, cabins supported between the chains and adapted to travel in an orbital path through the shaftways and crossways when the chains are set in motion.

6. In a gara e building or the like a pair of spaced para lel vertical shaftways, crossways connecting the shaftways at their tops and bottoms, pairs of spaced sprocket wheels mounted in the upper crossway and of a diameter substantially equal to the distance between the centers of the shaftways, an axle connecting the sprocket wheels, endless chains supported on and actuated by the sprocket wheels, cabins mounted on and d1sposed between chains and caused to travel in an orbital path through the shaftways' and crossways when the chains are set in motion, endless guides for the chains including vertical portions disposed at the side of the shaftways, downwardly curving port ons connecting the ends of the vertical portions and disposed in the lower crossway, upwardly curving portions connecting the upper ends of the vertical portions disposed in the upper crossway and following the periphery of the sprocket wheel, secondary endless guideways including vertical runs overlying the vertical runs of the chain guides and curved runs connecting the tops and bottoms of the vertical runs and disposed in the crossways above the curved runs of the chain guide, the supplemental guideways bemg open whereby the cabins may be connected through them to the chains and portions of said guideways being cut away to provide clearance for theconnections between chains and cabins at the cross-over points of the two guideways and means carried by the cabins above t eir points'of connection to the chains interengaged with the supplemental endless guideways.

7. A garage building or the like, a pair of shaftways connected at their top and bottom, a connected series of storage platforms movable through the orbital pathway thus defined,- car handling floors communicating with the shaftwa s, each platform being of a depth slightly ess than the de th of the shaftways and including a draw ridge on each end adapted to be lowered to bridge the space between the platforms and the car handling floors when one of the platforms is in alinement with one of the floors.

8. In a garage building, pairs of spaced parallel vertical shaftways, crossways connecting them, an endless chain of storage cabmately level with the floor of the tunnel extending over said it.

9. In a garage uildin pairs of vertical shaftways and upper an lower crossways, pairs of endless guided carrier chains, storage cabins hun between the carrier chains, separate idler rag chains in the upper and lower crossways, rails following the curvature of the carrier uides but faced therefrom and guiding said rag chains, and means on the cabins engageable with the idler drag chains to actuate the latter, while the, cabins are traversing the curved guide portion within the crossways.

10. In a storage building, a pair of spaced vertical shiftways, upper and' lower crossways connecting the shaftways, spaced sprocket wheels on the upper crossway, vertical chain guides on the shaftway walls,

curved chain guides in the lower cross space connecting the lower ends of the vertical guides, endless chains in the guides actuated y the sprocket wheels, storage cabins suspended near their tops between the chains and carried through the shaftways and crossways by the chains, endless secondary cabin guideways, means carried by the cabins above their point of attachment to the chains and coacting with said last mentioned guideways.

'11. In a storage building, a pair of spaced vertical shaftways, upper and lower crossways, connecting the shaftways, spaced s rocket wheels on the u per crossway, vertical chain guides on t e shaftway walls, curved chain guides in the lower cross space connecting the lower ends of the vertical guides, endless chains in the guides actuated by the sprocket wheels, storage cabins hung between the chains and carried through the shaftways and crossways by the chains, endless secondary cabin guides including vertical runs in the shaftways overlying the vertical chain guides, and curved runs in the the crossways so spaced from the tops of the sprocket wheels and the lower curved sections of the chain guides that the cabins are maintained on an even keel while traversing the crossways.

12. In a gara e building or the like, a pair of aced paral el shaftways, crossways connectmg them at their to and bottom, a pair of spaced rocket wheel; in the upper crossway, a hol ow axle drum rigidly connecting them, means providin a support and bearing for the drum, en ess chains carried by.

the sprocket wheels, cabins supported between the; chains and ada ted to'travel in an orbital path through the s aftways and crosswags when the chains are set in motion, and bu ding braces extending through the drums.

l3.- A device of the class described in claim 6 andwherein the chain guideways comprise box-like members adapted to prevent buckling of the chain links and slotted for connection with the cabins, said chains adjacent their points of connection to the cabins including rollers traveling in the box-like guideways.

14. In a garage building or the like, a pair of parallel vertical shaftways connected at their top and bottom, a pair of spaced sprocket wheels disposed near the upper end of the building and of a diameter substantially equal to the distance between the centers of the shaftways, endless chains carried by the sprocket wheels, storage cabins hung between the chains and adapted to be carried in an orbital path thereby through the shaftways and from one shaftway to another, the cabins being connected to the chains at points below the center of gravity of the cabins, and supplemental guide means engaged with the cabins above their points of connection with the chains to prevent swaying thereof.

15. In a garage building or the like, pairs of spaced endless guided carrier chains, storage cabins supported on and hung between the chains, secondary endless guideways connected with the cabins at points remote from theirpoints of connection to the carrier chains, the carrier chain guides and the supplemental guides including overlying straight portions and spaced curved portions connecting the end of the straight portions, drag chains overlying the curved portions of the supplemental guideways and actuated by the cabins as the latter traverse such guideways, the spacing of the cabins being such that each cabin as it traverses the curved portions of its path is connected both by the carrier chain and the drag means to one or more cabins travelling in straight portions of their orbit.

16. A storage building providing a space in which the storage cabins of an endless series may travel in an orbital path, a sprocket wheel in the upper end of said space, an endless chain travelling around said sprocket wheel, guide means for the chain including spaced vertical parallel guideways tangential to the sprocket wheel, a curved guideway forming a continuation of and connection between the lower ends of said vertical guideways, storage cabins connected to the chain above their centers of gravity and carried by the chain, and a secondary endless guide operatively connected to the cabins at points remote from the cabin and chain connections.

17. A storage building providing a s ace in which an endless series of storage ca ins are orbitally movable, a guided endless flexible device connected to all of the cabins, a supplemental endless guideway and means carried by the cabins above their point of connection tothe flexible device and travelling in said supplemental guideway, said means including plates swivelly connected to the cabins and rollers on the plates coacting with said guideway, the supplemental guideway including a rail confined between the rollers and interlocking therewith.

18. A storage building providing a space in which an endless series of storage cabins are orbitally movable, a guided endless flexible device connected to all of the cabins, a supplemental endless guideway and means carried by the cabins above their point of connection to the flexible device and travelling in said supplemental guideway, said means including plates swivelly connected to the cabins and rollers on the plates 'coacting with said guideway, the supplemental guideway including a pair of spaced rails and the rollers of the swivel plate travelling on both sides of and between said rails.

19. A garage as set forth in claim 6 and wherein roller carrying swivel plates in the cabins serve as the connections between cabins and supplemental guideways.

20. Agarage as set forth in claim 6 and wherein roller carrying swivel plates in the cabins serve as the connections between cabins and supplemental guideways, sald rollers interlocking with the guideways at all points.

21. In a construction of the class described, a building including a pair of spaced shaftways, upper and lower crossways connecting the shaftways, a pair of sprocket wheels in the upper crossway, vertical guides in the shaftways, curved guides in the lower cros'sway, endless chains traveling in said guides, cabins under the chains and auxiliary guides overlying the main guides and opera 

